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The Return of Club Ice and More! // Saturday Scrimmage Recap

By Griffin Whitmer

Since tonight's scrimmage was closed to the public, the only observations I can make are based off the stats and updates from Twitter.

Quarterback Play

First things first, it is worth noting that Kyle Flood gave Hayden Rettig the start.

Now on to the stats from both QBs, courtesy of NJ.com

Hayden Rettig: 10/17, 144 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 106 rating

Chris Laviano: 10/15, 123 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT, 138.38 rating

Wow.

From the looks of it, Hayden Rettig had seemed to position himself to be named the starter. However, Laviano had a better stat line. BTN reported that Rettig started with the first-team offense and took the first snaps of the night. Dan Duggan reported that Laviano ran with the 1's against the second-team defense while Rettig ran with the 2's against the defensive starters for the majority of the scrimmage. If that is true, Rettig's stat line becomes a little more impressive given that he worked against tougher competition with lesser weapons.

Although both QBs were pretty level during the scrimmage, the talk around the program is that Rettig is expected to be named the starter. I am #TeamRettig -- but he needed to have a monster scrimmage to leave no doubt in Kyle Flood's mind.


Secondary

This tweet from BTN's Tom Dienhart pretty much sums up everything that I've thought and what everyone else has been seeing in camp.

Obviously not too much to work with given that it is a controlled scrimmage, but it is clear that the secondary is improved but not quite where it needs to be to be a top unit in the B1G.

Injury Report

Leonte Carroo was indeed held out of the scrimmage, but it is not injury-related, as reported by Dienhart.

The injury report featured 18 players, including Darius Hamilton and Kemoko Turay. View the full report here.

Wide Receiver Depth

With Leonte Carro getting the night off, there was a huge stage for anyone and everyone to step up. Andre Patton and Janarion Grant made the most of their reps. I think that Patton has emerged as the player to start on the outside opposite Leonte Carroo. If Janarion Grant stays consistent with his hands, he could find himself as the starting slot receiver this year. Vance Matthews has also continued his strong camp as he hauled in a touchdown tonight.

Running Back Rotation

Justin Goodwin had a great night, carrying the ball 10 times for 70 yards. Devan Carter and Greg Jones got extended reps but neither was able to do much. If this was anything like the first scrimmage, the defense had a good idea where the running plays were going and the running backs didn't stand a chance. Neither Josh Hicks nor Robert Martin played tonight, but that should not be anything to worry about.

CLUB ICE ALERT!!!

Kyle Flood rewarded the players with Club Ice for the second straight year. This year, however, he stepped up the game.

http://instagram.com/p/6tY17xFAhF/

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/DjFrankieSteel">@DjFrankieSteel</a>!&#10;CHOP! <a href="http://t.co/ZOx2SdUOvt">pic.twitter.com/ZOx2SdUOvt</a></p>&mdash; Kyle Flood (@KyleFloodRU) <a href="https://twitter.com/KyleFloodRU/status/635285120073789440">August 23, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Other Notes

  • Kyle Federico had a great night: 3-3 FG (made: 24, 34, 45), 1-1 PAT
  • Joey Roth averaged 41.5 yards on 4 punts, while Tim Gleeson averaged 39.5 yards on 2 punts
  • Freshmen Willington Previlon and Marques Ford each notched a sack